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THE  R  U  R  A  L  N  E  W- Y  O  R  K  E  R .  July  23 
THE 
Rural  New-Yorker 
1 IMKS  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK. 
*  * 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes. 
ELBERT  8.  CARMAN.  Editor  In  Chief. 
HERBERT  W.  COLLINGWOOD,  Managing  Editor. 
Copyrighted  1892. 
SATURDAY,  JULY  23.  1892. 
We  propose  to  see  that  every  prominent  official  con¬ 
nected  with  the  “  Erie”  Railroad  has  a  chance  to  look 
at  the  cartoons  on  our  first  page.  The  pictures  were 
intended  for  their  notice  and  we  trust  they  will  make 
a  useful  study  of  them.  We  hope  these  gentlemen 
will  take  this  gentle  hint  in  the  proper  spirit  and  do 
justice  to  the  class  of  men  who  have  done  more  than 
any  other  to  keep  them  afloat. 
*  * 
Statistician  Dodge  of  the  Department  of  Agricul¬ 
ture,  has  frequently  been  charged  with  the  fault  of 
appending  to  his  crop  reports  long  partisan  discuss¬ 
ions  on  political  questions.  rl  o  prevent  a  recurrence 
of  this,  the  House  has  provided  in  the  Agricultural 
Appropriation  Bill  that  henceforth  crop  reports  shall 
be  limited  to  bare  statements  of  percentages  “without 
comment  or  argument.”  The  less  “politics”  in  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  the  better. 
*  * 
It  is  a  pity  that  certain  uninformed  though  “noted” 
arboriculturists  should,  some  years  ago,  have  disputed 
the  specific  individuality  of  Catalpa  speciosa.  They 
insisted  it  was  the  same  as  the  Common  Catalpa,  C. 
bignonioides.  The  R.  N.-Y  ,  by  illustrations  and  text, 
has  shown  their  decided  differences  as  seen  in  the  size 
of  flower,  the  time  of  blooming  and  the  shape,  size 
and  texture  of  the  leaf.  That  Speciosa  is  much  hardier 
than  the  Common  Catalpa  is  now  everywhere  recog¬ 
nized  as  a  fact  beyond  dispute. 
*  * 
We  have  given  you  at  last  a  practical  scheme  for 
sterilizing  milk.  It  is  worth  trying.  The  consumer 
will  find  it  useful  and  safe.  By  its  means  the  life  of 
the  milk  may  be  prolonged,  and  danger  from  using 
diseased  milk  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Those  who 
sell  bottled  milk  will  be  able,  by  this  process,  to  give 
a  double  guarantee— that  their  milk  is  absolutely  safe 
to  use,  and  that  it  will  keep  longer  than  ever.  Even 
the  farmer  who  sends  milk  in  bulk  to  the  city  may  be 
able  to  use  an  enlarged  pail  like  the  one  illustrated. 
*  * 
Manitoba  wheat  growers  feel  proud.  At  the  great 
international  millers’  exhibition  held  the  other  day 
in  London,  England,  the  champion  gold  medal  offered 
for  the  best  wheat  was  awarded  to  the  Manatoban 
Government  for  an  exhibit  of  Red  Fife.  This  award 
is  not  only  an  honor,  but  a  source  of  pecuniary  profit 
also.  Manitoba  wheat  has  long  held  a  front  rank  among 
the  wheats  of  the  world,  and  this  international  recog¬ 
nition  of  its  merits  for  milling  purposes  will  tend  at 
once  to  assure  its  position  and  maintain  or  even  en¬ 
hance  its  present  top  price. 
*  * 
A  prize-winning  animal,  pampered,  petted  and  pol¬ 
ished  up  for  show  purposes,  is  a  poor  thing  to  select 
for  a  breeder.  A  good  deal  of  its  fine  appearance  is 
artificial,  and  cannot  be  transmitted  to  its  offspring. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  poultry,  since  prizes  are 
given  for  appearance  rather  than  for  practical  value. 
Eggs  from  these  prize-winning  birds  are  rarely  satis¬ 
factory — in  fact,  the  plan  of  buying  eggs  for  setting  is 
not  to  be  commended  anyway.  Unless  you  are  in  the 
business  of  breeding  show  animals  you  had  better  let 
the  prize-winners  alone,  and  spend  your  money  for 
some  healthiei  brother  or  sister  that  has  not  been 
pampered  for  a  prize. 
*  # 
The  trouble  at  Carnegie's  works  at  Homestead,  Pa., 
has  excited  a  lively  interest  in  all  sections  of  this 
country,  and  hardly  less  beyond  the  Atlantic.  With 
few  exceptions,  the  most  prominent  organs  of  public 
opinion  either  deprecate  the  action  and  persistence  of 
the  company  or  openly  sympathize  with  the  men. 
Still  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  former  has 
the  law  on  its  side.  The  members  have  invested  heav¬ 
ily  in  the  business,  and  have  an  undoubted  right  to 
manage  it  as  they  please — to  pay  whatever  wages  they 
can  get  men  to  accept,  and  to  discharge  and  employ 
according  to  their  own  wishes.  On  their  side  the  men 
have  an  equal  right  to  refuse  to  work  except  on  their 
own  terms ;  but  they  have  no  right  to  prevent  others 
from  taking  their  places  on  less  favorable  conditions. 
Any  attempt  to  do  this  by  violence  is  in  direct  violation 
of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law,  and  should  be 
promptly  suppressed.  Should  public  opinion  demand 
it,  any  law  can  be  changed  or  repealed,  but  as  loDg  as 
it  remains  on  the  statute  books,  it  should  b©  enforced 
in  accordance  with  the  interpretation  of  it  by  the 
courts.  Politicians  are  earnestly  trying  to  turn  the 
trouble  to  their  side’s  advantage.  It  is,  however,  an 
economical,  not  a  political  matter.  The  advanced 
socialists  regard  the  embroglio  as  a  strong  argument 
in  favor  of  paternalism.  They  insist  that  all  large 
industries,  like  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel, 
should  be  in  government  hands,  and  that  public 
belief  is  yearly  growing  stronger  that  labor,  which 
creates  all  wealth,  has  an  equitable  right  to  employ¬ 
ment  at  wages  or  other  form  of  compensation  which 
would  give  it  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  from  its  own 
efforts,  and  they  emphatically  maintain  that  such  con¬ 
flicts  as  the  present  prove  the  necessity  for  such  an 
amendment  to  our  present  system  of  business  economy. 
*  * 
There  is  a  great  opening  for  some  good  judges  of 
milch  cows  to  start  what  may  be  called  heifer  farms 
on  some  of  the  cheap  lands  of  the  East.  Start  with  a 
herd  of  good  milch  cows  and  put  a  Holstein  bull  at 
their  head.  Beef  the  steers  and  raise  the  heifers  for 
sale — just  before  or  after  calving — to  the  milk  dairy¬ 
men  in  Orange  and  adjoining  counties.  These  heifers 
could  be  raised  a  good  deal  cheaper  back  from  the 
railroads — too  far  for  shipping  milk — than  the  milk¬ 
men  could  raise  them,  and  they  could  walk  off  to  mar¬ 
ket  By  raising  well-bred  heifers  there  would  always 
be  a  demand  for  the  stock. 
*  * 
The  other  day  Representative  John  DeWitt  Warner, 
of  New  York,  in  a  speech  in  Congress,  gave  an  authen¬ 
tic  list  of  100  trusts  which  oppress  the  public  ;  since 
then  a  new  one  has  been  added  composed  of  the  five 
great  freight  car  manufacturing  companies  in  the 
United  States.  Having  grown  tired  of  competition 
with  each  other,  these  now  propose  to  try  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  non-competitive  combination.  The  new  trust 
will  have  a  capital  of  $10,000,000,  and  will  monopolize 
the  manufacture  of  freight  cars  just  as  the  Pullman 
Palace  Car  Company  has  stifled  all  competition  within 
its  own  domain.  There  is  no  tariff  on  freight  cars,  but 
there  are  heavy  duties  on  nearly  all  the  materials  that 
enter  into  their  manufacture.  Foreign  competition  in 
cars  and  their  materials  is,  therefore,  out  of  the  ques¬ 
tion,  and  the  new  trust  will  soon  put  an  end  to  all 
home  competition.  *  # 
For  years  Jersey  City  has  politically  been  probably 
the  most  corrupt  municipality  in  the  entire  country. 
The  wishes  and  votes  of  the  people  have  been  repeat¬ 
edly  nullified  by  a  band  of  unscrupulous  political 
thugs  and  rascals,  who,  by  ballot-box  stuffing  and 
other  disreputable  means,  made  the  issue  of  all  elec¬ 
tions  suit  their  own  ends  and  profits.  Many  of  them 
have  grown  wealthy  by  their  rascality  and  all  have 
swindled  the  public  as  greedily  as  the  Tweed  ring  of 
old  plundered  New-Yorkers.  At  the  last  election  the 
citizens’  indignation  and  wrath  became  so  hot  that  a 
“  tidal  wave”  overwhelmed  the  scoundrels.  A  reform 
city  adm  nistration  was  installed,  and  several  batches 
of  the  ballot-box  stuffers  were  indicted  and,  in  spite 
of  delay  and  tremendous  efforts  and  “influence,” 
Judge  Lippincott  has  just  sent  42  of  them  to  State 
prison  for  from  nine  to  eighteen  months  apiece.  The 
ballot-box  is  the  palladium,  the  safeguard  of  our 
republican  institutions,  and  any  corrupt  interference 
with  its  sanctity  should  meet  with  the  promptest  and 
severest  punishment.  #  # 
A  new  Highway  Commission,  consisting  of  three 
expert  members,  has  just  been  appointed  by  Massa¬ 
chusetts  “to  investigate  and  consider  the  best  and 
most  practicable  method  of  construction  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  highways,  and  the  estimated  cost  of  the 
various  methods  and  systems ;  the  establishment  of 
State  or  county  highways,  with  recommendations  as 
to  their  construction  and  mainten  mce,  routes  and  ap¬ 
proximate  cost.”  It  is  also  authorized  to  go  into  such 
questions  as  the  width  of  the  tires  of  wheels.  Efforts 
to  secure  the  passage  of  a  law  in  the  Old  Bay  State, 
compelling  the  use  of  broader  tires,  have  been  beaten 
for  years,  mainly  through  the  opposition  of  farmers  on 
the  ground  that  the  innovation  would  make  the  wheels 
so  heavy  and  bulky  as  to  offset  any  possible  advantages 
from  it.  A  scientific  commission,  however,  is  expected 
to  present  the  question  in  an  exhaustive  manner.  An 
appropriation  of  $10,000  has  been  made  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  commission,  whose  report  must  be 
made  by  the  first  Wednesday  in  February  next.  The 
main  arguments  in  its  favor  have  been  based  on  the 
great  benefit  farmers  would  receive  from  better  roads, 
but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  movement  was  in¬ 
spired  and  mainly  promoted  by  the  bicycle  men,  and 
two  of  the  three  Commissioners  are  members  of  the 
League  of  American  Wheelmen.  Bicyclists  are  deeply 
interested  in  having  the  roads  as  smooth,  hard  and 
straight  as  possible,  and  will  doubtless  follow  the 
matter  more  closely  than  the  farmers  for  whose  osten¬ 
sible  benefit  the  Commission  was  appointed. 
*  * 
According  to  Canadian  papers,  the  plight  of  Canadian 
farmers  is  distressing.  The  McKinley  tariff  virtually 
closed  to  them  their  best  and  most  convenient  market, 
and  the  project  of  obtaining  from  the  Mother  Country 
preferential  duties  for  their  products  in  conjunction 
with  the  other  British  colonies,  was  ruthlessly  crushed 
the  other  day  by  the  Congress  of  the  Boards  of  Trade 
held  in  London.  In  spite  of  the  earnest  appeals  of  the 
Imperial  Federation  League,  which  seeks  to  obtain  a 
reciprocal  tariff  between  all  the  English  possessions  to 
the  disadvantage  of  outsiders,  the  Congress  emphati¬ 
cally  declared  in  favor  of  free  trade  with  all  countries, 
and  the  delegates  refused  to  commit  themselves  to 
any  policy  that  would  increase  the  cost  of  breadstuffs 
in  the  British  Isles,  even  though  colonial  producers 
should  be  benefited  thereby.  Moreover,  the  accession 
of  Gladstone  to  power,  assured  Ey  the  elections  now 
under  way,  dissipates  the  last  hope  of  a  change  of 
British  commercial  policy  for  years  Never,  therefore, 
has  agricultural  immigration  to  this  country  been  so 
heavy,  not  only  of  French-Canadians  from  Quebec,  but 
also  of  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  from  Ontario.  Pas¬ 
sage  across  the  line  is  a  short,  though  often  grievous, 
road  to  relief;  but  a  hearty  welcome  awaits  every 
newcomer  from  among  our  friends  and  neighbors 
*  * 
BaEVITIE  8. 
There  are  scatter-brained  young  fellows  who  pretend  they’re  very  wise 
Just  because  some  noble  volumes  they  have  studied  with  their  eyes. 
Mlghtv  little  of  the  learning  ever  got  into  their  head ; 
Haven’t  thought  and  pondered  on  it— all  they’ve  done  is  simply  read. 
But  they  think  they’ve  got  all  wisdom,  and  thev  tell  it  off  with  pride. 
When  in  fact  they  haven’t  got  it  past  the  thickness  of  their  hide. 
Makes  me  think  of  Johnson's  tom-cat,  how  he  made  a  spring  one  day 
Just  as  Mary  Ann’s  canary  started  up  Its  tuneful  lay; 
And  the  great  sharp  claws  so  cruel  stopped  the  little  fellow’s  note, 
And  that  living  ball  of  music  just  went  d->wn  the  tom-cat’s  throat. 
And  my  little  boy  stopped  crying  just  between  his  sobs  to  say, 
'  That  old  cat  will  sing  like  Dickie  since  he  ate  him  anyway !  ” 
Now  the  theory  was  perfect,  but,  alas!  It  wasn’t  so; 
’Twas  the  same  old  howling  demon  that  we  always  used  to  know 
tor  you  can  t  Improve  your  music  just  bv  eating  singers  fair. 
Tis  a  thing  of  work  and  study,  thought,  and  steady,  anxious  care, 
And  the  chap  who  hopes  by  skimming  to  be  counted  great  and  wise 
Will  be  just  like  Johnson's  tom-cat.  with  its  wild,  discordant  cries 
Put  a  leaf  in  your  hat  1 
What  crop  follows  your  strawberries? 
A  rooted  weed  makes  bad  use  of  the  sun. 
You  can’t  caponize  a  Leghorn's  comb  out  of  sight. 
Ever  tried  a  knapsack  sprayer  for  washing  windows  ?  Do  so. 
The  hasty-tempered  man  tights  life’s  long  battle  with  one  hand. 
He  at  the  foot  will  always  staud  who  cannot  muster  self-command. 
The  farmer  who  seeks  the  shade  of  a  tree  has  more  comfort  than 
crop. 
Colorado  is  in  debt  to  Alfalfa  if  ever  a  State  owed  anything  to  a 
plant. 
How  many  pounds  of  prime  mutton  does  it  take  to  buy  a  pound  of 
wool? 
Feeding  sulphur  to  kill  ticks  is  a  mighty  long  journey  to  the  seat 
of  war. 
What  are  you  going  to  do  when  the  pasture  gets  hard  and  dry  ? 
Feed  grain  ? 
Can  a  man  honor  women  in  general  and  abuse  or  neglect  those  in 
his  own  family  ? 
Mouths  without  good  teeth  give  the  stomach  extra  work  and  soon 
wear  off  their  sheath. 
In  addition  to  its  other  wonderful  properties,  it  is  now  rumored 
that  roots  of  the  cotton  plant  are  in  use  for  tanning. 
The  Maryland  Agricultural  College  has  been  reorganized.  Do  not  a 
large  majority  of  the  others  also  sadly  need  reorganization  ? 
It  Is  estimated  that  aside  from  the  good  they  did,  the  members  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  spent  $3,000,000  in  New  York  city. 
If  the  cow  could  have  her  say  about  breeding  up  an  improved  race 
of  dairymen,  do  vou  think  she  would  call  you  a  scrub  or  a  thor¬ 
oughbred  ? 
The  latest  thing  in  dog  breeds  is  the  Black  Pug.  It  is  like  the  ordin¬ 
ary  pug  except  that  it  is  coal  black  Fashion  nas  fastened  to  these 
dogs  and  good  specimens  sell  for  more  than  good  cows. 
Mr.  J.  A.  SMith,  the  versatile  associate  editor  of  Hoard's  Dairy¬ 
man,  fell  a  victim  the  other  day  to  heart  failure  at  the  age  of  nearly 
tiU.  He  has  left  thousands  of  mourners  In  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Hurrah  I  hurrah  !  we’ll  wiggle  through  all  right. 
Though  rain  and  drought  or  mildew,  bug  and  blight 
Try  to  steal  the  home  away,  they  won't  get  through  the  tight 
Bottom  of  good,  honest  farming. 
Prof.  Eugene  Davenport  has  returned  from  Brazil,  where  he 
went  to  found  an  agricultural  college.  He  has  written  us  his  impress¬ 
ions  of  that  remarkable  country.  They  will  greatly  interest  our 
readers. 
There  is  one  thing  worth  remembering  about  the  convention  of  the 
People’s  party— the  bar  rooms  and  rum  shops  didn’t  have  to  double 
their  force  of  workers  to  serve  liquor  to  delegates,  as  they  did  at 
Minneapolis  and  Chicago  ! 
In  handling  fertilizer,  plaster  or  lime,  be  sure  to  have  your  nostrils 
smeared  with  vaseline.  In  such  work  this  is  one  of  the  most  comfort¬ 
ing  devices  yet  discovered.  Try  it  also  in  harrowing,  thrashing  and 
wherever  else  there  is  dust. 
The  biggest  barnyard  nuisance  Is  a  young  Leghorn  rooster.  Unless 
of  extra  good  quality  aDd  to  be  used  for  breeding,  he  has  no  business 
to  live  alter  his  flist  attempt  to  crow.  Sell  him  for  a  broiler  before  he 
has  the  whole  yard  in  a  broil. 
Here’s  a  Bum  for  you!  How  much  more  per  ton  does  it  cost  to  get 
your  hay  in  all  pitched  by  hand— on  to  the  wagon  and  off— than  when 
you  use  loader  and  slings  or  horse  forks?  How  much  hay  must  you 
have  to  make  these  tools  pay  interest? 
The  premium  list  of  the  Trenton  Inter-State  Fair  offers  a  prize  for 
the  “  Ponderosa  ’  Tomato  and  another  lor  the  “No.  400,”  evidently 
unaware  that  these  are  two  names  for  the  same  thing.  The  Boussock 
Pear  is  made  ”  Bonssock”  and  the  Vicar  of  Winktield  is  converted  to 
the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  which,  by  the  way,  is  a  very  common  error. 
Glffard  is  metamorphosed  into  Gifford,  Dana’s  Ilovey  Is  changed  to 
Dana's  Hoey  and  Louise  Bonne  to  Louts  Bonne.  The  Oldmixon  Peach 
is  made  into  Old  Mixon,  and  a  surreptitious  h  is  inserted  into  Rea’s 
Mammoth  Qulace 
